Sundance: Anchor Bay Acquires Leland Orser’s ‘Morning’

EXCLUSIVE: Anchor Bay Films acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Leland Orser’s directorial debutMorning. Pic’s not playing Sundance, but the deal just closed here. The film, which stars Big Love‘s Jeanne Tripplehorn, Laura Linney, Elliott Gould Orser, follows the life of an American couple immediately following the accidental death of their child. Morning was first seen at SXSW, when it was done as a short film. Orser expanded the story into a feature film and developed additional perspectives.

Morning follows the divergent paths of Mark and Alice Munroe as they circle each other in heart-breaking grief before finally coming to grips with their shared loss. Kyle Chandler, Jason Ritter, Charlie McDermott and Julie White. Morning was produced by Todd Traina through his Red Rover Films shingle and Orser wrote the screenplay.

Said Orser: “I think that what we are experiencing right now in mainstream cinema is a renaissance of the independent film drama. Good stories. Important themes. Center stage. This is a time for films that challenge us to think and to question and to feel deeply. Morning is a love story, in the truest sense of the word, that asks us to do all of those things. Todd and I are both thrilled that it has found a home at Anchor Bay with Kevin and his team who care as passionately as we do about film and filmgoers alike.”